Epsom badminton ace Chris Langridge may have tasted defeat at the YONEX All England Open but feels he and partner Marcus Ellis are just one piece of the jigsaw short.
The 33-year-old Olympic medallist is one half of England’s No.1 men’s doubles pairing but he and Ellis were unable to prevent defeat against previous tournament winners Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan.
The Indonesian sixth seeds, who triumphed at badminton’s oldest tournament in 2014, prevailed 21-19 21-12 in a high-level encounter at Arena Birmingham.
“It was really frustrating,” said Langridge, who won Olympic bronze alongside Ellis at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
“I’ve got to give them credit, they were a lot better than us today.
“Tactically they were good. They make the game look so easy because of shot selection, they force you into things and set you up so you play into their hands.
“It’s so frustrating when it happens because before the game we discussed the gameplan and said ‘don’t fall into this trap or that trap’, then first 10 minutes we fell into every one.
“They’re one of the best in the world though and on their day they can beat pretty much everyone.”
Experienced duo Ellis and Langridge kept in touch in the first game and weren’t far off at 20-19 down before conceding game point.
The English pair struggled to get to grips with Indonesian stars Ahsan and Setiawan in the second game however, trailing from the fifth point onwards.
Ellis continued: “We have to find a little something that changes things because at times we were competing but how many set plays did they fall into? Probably one the whole match, where we fell into probably 20.
“We’ve got a lot to work on and there’s a few key areas, from one tournament to another you can turn it around.
“At the end of last year we had a complete catastrophe and then a week later we beat the world champions.
“It just takes a little something and then momentum changes.”
The 2019 YONEX All England – Badminton’s Greatest Show on the sport’s world tour – will wow fans at Arena Birmingham, 6-10 March. For tickets and information: www.allenglandbadminton.com or search All England tickets.
